Idées La Danse Matisse . Henri matisse, detail dance i, 1909, oil on canvas, 259.7 x 390 cm (museum of modern art, new york city) what matisse has done here, even in seemingly simple rendering, is use spatial ambiguity to explore one of the key issues in modern painting, the conflict between the illusion of depth and an acknowledgment of the flatness of the canvas. In 1930, at the age of 61, henri matisse met doctor albert barnes, an american millionaire and modern art collector, founder of the barnes foundation in merion, pennsylvania. Dance is inside all of us, wanting to get out and express itself, freely. Eventually it will also build. Albert barnes proposed a mural commission for his foundation, leaving matisse free to choose the subject.